"Finally we realize that human intelligence is animal intelligence,
but animal intelligence is not necessarily human intelligence".
Humans react in the same way as animals when confronted to a threat.
That's not what I mean with intelligence because this is our animal-instinct. Imagine that you touch a hot plate. Your nerve system is faster than your thought and removes the hand before you can wheep: "Damn this is hot!" You do not have to consider: "I smell BBQ coming from the palm of my hand. BBQ equals to roast meat. Roast palm meat is not good for the health. Take that roasting hand away. Evaluate if the plate is the cause of the BBQ smell. Learn from it an avoid the same thing happening again."
So, from what point do we speak of intelligence?
Former war surgeon Henri Laborit ("Eloge de la fuite") tortured rats in electrified cages to see how they reacted to stress and brilliant theorists like Peter Levine observed tigers and their walking dinner.
It's all about about flight, fight, freeze. The reaction (not intelligence) that helps life to survive.
Example : The antelope that freezes when the tiger charges has also a chance to survive but less than the neighbouring more (clearly alive quality vivid) meat that flights, except when the tiger is so close that no chance to escape is possible. Than it is better to freeze and accumulate, not burn adrenaline. A frozen antelope is possibly not yummy for a tiger, it could be an old or sick animal. (Ya see, the tiger is not stupid!). When it comes to humans, freezing is rare among (example) trained professional emergency workers (nurses, docs, firemen, ambulance personnel) who are trained to act (fight the situation), but common for most people in an acute stress situation. Imaging yourself entering a store and the door is slammed open by an armed burglar that stares you in the eyes. When possible you flight, when impulsive and stupid (armed burglar) you fight of when frightened to death you freeze or panic. But no matter if the stress is acute or growing, when it lasts, stress will eventually give symptoms like a decrease in immunity, (stomach) ulcers and even death (extinction). I'll write more about this subject and adrenaline later.
How did this evolve into intelligence?
Evolution is only possible (except spontaneous favourable genetic changes) when there is need (for a species) to develop under changed circumstances or under environmental stress in order to survive. The better a stress situation is thought over, the better the chance to survive and pass this knowledge to offspring. If and when the stress allows to think it over. When that is not possible, than you have two solutions :
- Flight - fight- freeze reaction (Adrenaline induced = Stronger / faster / only eye for the detail)
- Act according to what you have learned during life :
- Adrenaline driven (stress)
- Intellect driven (overcoming stress = More eye for the detail within the global situation.)
Species who are able to overcome stress and find a solution, live in regained (relative) comfort in the changed environment, allow them to genetically evolve into a new subspecies. Mostly this overcoming is not individual, but in the fact that the most genetically / physically animal survives and continuous to produce a next generation. Men became an expert in survival and (with a little help of a growing protein diet) became always better in finding solutions for stress situations. Even though we are not the strongest, fastest of most fearsome animal on the planet, we placed ourselves on top of the food-chain and spread throughout the entire Globe. Humans life on every continent, under any weather circumstances, even permanent in space (Space lab).
We consider us the supreme intelligent species on earth, but at the same time we destroy our Earth.
So far, you might agree with me (if you are not into Divine creationism).
And than come higher animals who show to be very intelligent in their way, like Cetatia (whales and dolphins) and of course out brothers, the primates who share up to 98% of our chromosomes.
And that's about it?
There is still much to discover about intelligence from species that we don't even consider eventually intelligent, aka "lower forms of life". It is only a rough decade ago that white scientists considered native Africans a lower form of human life. And so do you act accordingly to some as if they were lower forms of life thus mistaking the fact that you might be more intelligent with the term "higher form of human life". Is it not typical for humans to give less intelligent of less physically equipped humans a chance to grow, learn and develop themselves? In animal life, they would be eaten by predators. But we have learned that we can also benifit from these. Example "par excellence" is Stephen Hawking, an über-brilliant mind in a crippled body. Is it not equally typical human to allow dangerous man-killers among our own species to survive (locked away)? That is something that I like to consider as a part of "Humanism"!
Memo2myself:
Must write something about dilution of responsibility leading to mass murder without sense of responsibility : I did not touch that button, I only gave the order to hit the button. >< I Am not responsibility for touching the button that had death as result. I only followed the order. >< I only build the device with the button that had death as result. I never said to use it.
Watch this video about an octopus analysing a problem and finding the solution.
See the impressive video of "Leonard" the octopus who learns to interpret symbols and take actions accordingly. I know some guys in my favourite pub who would not be able to do better.
Read also : Scientific indication that whales have emotions.
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